History Of The Burger Beastmobile #tbt #throwbackthursday

Since three years have pass I thought it might be cool to write up the entire experience of the Burger Beastmobile, even though it really only lasted a couple of montsh I still have folks emailing me to hire the Beastmobile for catering.

When I first mentioned that there was a Burger Beast Food Truck in the works it was part of the announcement for Street Food Fridays. Then, I didn’t reveal any more info til Thursday January 6th, 2011 when Thrillist revealed all the details. I also wrote about it on my blog for those who aren’t subscribed to them.

The Burger Beastmobile name was actually coined by Frodnesor a few days later and I went back and changed any mention of the truck to the new name.

The idea for the truck started in early November of 2010 when David Garcia, the owner of La Camaronera & the Fish Box suggested it. He felt that if I spoke to Food Truck builder Food Cart USA, I could work out a deal for a Food Truck that would be mutually beneficial for both of us. I loved the idea but wasn’t interested in cooking in a Food Truck much less running it. Also, the reality that it would be frowned upon by my readers weighed on me when figuring out what exactly to do. Then the idea for the revolving door of Chefs came to me so I decided it was a solid enough to pitch it to Food Cart USA.

Tania, the owner of Food Cart USA didn’t even take a second to say yes. As part of our agreement I never owned the Burger Beastmobile, it was always property of Food Cart USA. It was stored at their facility down in Cutler Bay as a matter of fact. I did have 100% control of whatever it was used for since my logo was on it and I selected all the drinks that were to be sold on it too.

Beastmobile Pre-Wrap

Everything Still Wrapped Up Inside

We finally settled on the idea that the serving and front side of the truck would be “Burger Beast” while the driver’s and back side would be “Food Cart USA”, and that’s exactly what happened. As the truck was being built I focused on making sure the wrap looked sharp but not too busy. I can’t seem to find the original design sent to me but I remember it to have about 25 Burger Beast logos all over it. I didn’t have photoshop so I was using Microsoft Paint to edit what they sent me. These three pictures document the final versions of the wrap, I settled on the last one.

I thought this was too much.

I created this one using paint. Almost there.

This was it.

The Burger Beastmobile

The truth is once I announced the Burger Beastmobile, it received an overwhelmingly positive response but Burger Land’s George Motz thought that I may have lost my mind.

Street Food Fridays Event

The Beastmobile needed to be ready by January 7th, 2011 for the 1st Street Food Fridays event at Miami Herald. We didn’t have the permit to cook on the truck yet, but we could vend out of it. And so the call went out to Fireman Derek who accepted the job of being the first of my favorites to sell out of my truck. He also had the horrible job of explaining to the hundreds of people who kept coming to the window that no Burgers were being sold today, only Pies. Looking back on it now, it’s so ridiculous that we even did that.

That same night we took the Beastmobile to the Tamiami Trucks Food Court with the same question being asked over and over, poor Derek. He did sell a bunch of Pies though.

On Wednesday January 12, 2011 we fired up the Beastmobile flat top for the first time. The truck was parked in Kendall in Tania’s driveway. I had people texting and tweeting that they had spotted it, very funny. Here are some pics from that night:

The original plan was for El Mago de las Fritas to be on the Beastmobile at the new Miami Street Food Court on Biscayne but that ended up being delayed. Brian, the owner of Ms. Cheezious suggested we use the Totally Truckin’ Thursdays’ location and we did, so thanks to him for that. We also went out the following night to the Tamiami Trucks Food Court and that was madness.

When I arrived at Tamiami Trucks Food Court there was a line-up that wrapped around the lot and a few of the food trucks. It turns out that when I followed the line, at the end of it was the Beastmobile with Quickie’s on board. Their chargrilled Burger brought all the boys to the yard and then some that night. They sold out by 8:30pm.

Quickie’s working it

It was when Pincho Factory was on the Beastmobile that we realized my original plan for having all types of cuisine on the truck was not gonna work. To the public, the truck says Burger Beast and there better be Burgers on there. This was the first event at the now famous Lexus of Kendall.

I think everyone couldn’t wait for Charm City Burger Company to make an appearance on the Beastmobile in Miami. At the inaugural Miami Street Food Court on Biscayne the dream became a reality. Everywhere I looked there was a Big Sloppy.

We really thought Charm City would be the last restaurant on the truck. The Beastmobile, while a great idea in theory, was a financial disaster for Food Cart USA and I. Don’t get me wrong, it was a bunch of fun, but recouping the costs of the build out was not likely to happen. Then the weirdest thing happened, Shake Shack and Chef Michael Schwartz emailed/called. I decided this was the way to go out.

About Burger Beast

I started writing the Burger Beast food blog to tell folks about those little forgotten gems in South Florida. Over the course of the last 5 years or so I've added News, Opinions, & Tips on a variety of Food related subjects. My first love will always be Burgers but Comfort Food is where it's at. At the end of the day I’m a regular dude who writes about a bunch of things I think you should know about.